SERIES - When Angels Weep

PART - 3

TITLE: Interludes And Flashbacks, Oh My!

AUTHOR'S NAME: The Sorcerer Bard

AUTHOR'S E-MAIL: thesorcererbard@i-am-the-key.com

RATING: PG-13

PAIRINGS: Tara/Dawn (20 years old) plus standard pairings of Spike/Buffy and Xander/Anya

SUMMARY: While Tara sleeps Dawn remembers, but did everything actually happen the way they remember?

SPOILERS: None for the series I think [I haven't seen any of season 6 so you draw your own conclusions].

DISCLAIMER: Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to them. I own the storyline and Zee- Ra, the Ha'leth and the Oh-th'Maakem.

NOTES: 1) This is only my second attempt at a Tara/Dawn story so feedback is desperately wanted.

2) This story is based on an idea from The Anonymus Reviewer and is set after Buffonia's story 'Zoom from the Moon' [Read it if you can it's a great story].

3) If you notice some discontinuities and small changes in personalities don't worry, all will be explained (He, He, He, I'm pulling a Joss and hinting at things that are gonna happen further down the track).

4) This part is written in both first person ("Blah," I said. ) and third person ("Blah," Dawn said). The first person is what is happening in the present, and the third person is what has happened in the past.

Major thanks go to The Anonymus Reviewer and Dawn Worshiper for beta'ing this story, and major thanks go to Buffonia for beta'ing the first two parts and giving me some great pointers.

Summary of what I think should happen at the end of season 6 [needed to follow some of the flashback sequences]:

Tara had been shot and killed by Warren in Buffy's house, Buffy too had been shot. Willow had succumbed to her darkest urges because of Tara's death, this had driven her over the edge and into the abyss of dark magick. Willow had saved Buffy, but she couldn't bring Tara back.

To end her pain Willow set her mind to destroy the world, through any means she could. Xander was sent to try and talk her down, while Giles and Anya attempted to drain her magick. Xander had managed to talk Willow out of destroying the world, but Giles and Anya were unable to drain her magick. Willow still felt the need to bring Tara back, so she began to petition the darkest, most powerful and most vengeful of ancient deities.

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When Angels Weep 3 - Interludes And Flashbacks, Oh My!

We were both seated around the table in our reading room, Tara was sitting there, looking all blonde and beautiful with her head buried in a thick volume of demonic lore. I could see her eyes were getting heavy, she was slowly drifting off to sleep. It was after two in the morning after all.

I decided that I needed a boost of caffeine so I got up and headed to the kitchen for a Coke. When I got back to the library Tara's head was flat on the book and she was very lightly snoring.

I sat back in by seat and watched her, remembering with each breath the every step along the path that ended right were we were now.

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"Gods of the over-worlds, Gods of the under-worlds, hear my plea, hear my cry!" Willow, her hair a brilliant black color, stood in the middle of Restfield Cemetery, in front of the most sacred of crypts, "I beseech you give me what I request!"

"YOUR REQUEST WILL BE CONSIDERED!" a powerful voice boomed.

"My request is urgent!"

"YOUR REQUEST WILL BE CONSIDERED IN DUE TIME!"

"NO!" Willow rose from the ground her eyes alight with crackling power. The energy forced it's way along her arms and out through her hands arcing towards the crypt.

An energy field appeared around the crypt, but it was no match for the force of the onslaught. The field collapsed and the crypt exploded in a shower of masonry.

"WILLOW!" came Buffy's voice from behind her.

"Leave me alone!" Willow floated round to face her best friend, energy crackled along her arms and leapt out to strike Buffy.

The force of the blast flung the blonde across the cemetery and into a crypt.

Xander who was standing off to the side of the crypt moved towards Buffy, "Will, think about what you're doing, this isn't you!"

"How the hell would you know? You've been to wrapped up in first Anya then in getting away from her," Willow was barely whispering but her voice was carrying enough so it sounded like she was yelling.

"Will," Buffy croaked as Xander helped her to sit up, "I know you miss her but you can't bring her back, you tried and you couldn't."

Willow snarled, power crackled along her entire body, the air held the faint scent of ozone.

"Stop!" came a female voice from the darkness, it carried the faintest hint of an accent under it, "You would kill your friends, just to bring her back?"

"Yes!" Willow turned to face the voice.

From the shadows came a lithe female form, with blonde hair down below her waist, "No one is worth that, not even God, your friends are what makes you, you."

Power flared around Willow as the woman said those words, "She is!" the power arced from her hands towards the woman.

"Défendez!" the woman cried and the air around her thickened and solidified into a transparent shield that easily deflected the crackling energy, "I am equal in strength to you, you cannot harm me. Tara isn't worth it. Besides you alone do not have the power, you know this."

"I can get the power."

"No, you alone cannot do it, but there may be a way..."

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"...And then they came to me," I muttered under my breath.

At the sound of my voice Tara stirred but didn't wake, her eyes were moving rapidly as if she were dreaming, I wouldn't put it past her, every now and then recently she had been having bad dreams all stemming from that fateful day when Warren had killed her.

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"... Are you willing to try?" the woman, who called herself Carmen, asked Dawn.

"Let me see if I'm understanding this ... You want to use me as some kind of ... what did you call it ... a focus?" When Carmen nodded she continued, "To channel the power to bring Tara back?"

"Correct," Carmen said, she was seated in Spike's usual chair in the corner of the Summers living room.

"Why me?"

"You are The Key," Carmen stood and walked towards her, "The living energy from which you were created enables you to channel the massive amounts of energy required."

"I have one question," Buffy said from where she was standing by the couch, "How do you know this?"

"I am a sorceress." she said as if that answered everything.

Buffy looked to where Willow was huddled in her chair, she was shivering as if the temperature almost zero, "Are absolutely you sure it'll work?"

"Yes."

"Let's do it, " Dawn said in a determined tone, as she stood and took a step forward.

"Are you sure?" Buffy asked turned to look her sister in the eye.

"Tara was my friend, Willow is my friend, they both need help."

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Tara's body had been moved to the Sunnydale Memorial Morgue, it had been examined and scheduled for autopsy the next day.

Buffy strode in followed by Dawn, Spike, Willow and Carmen. The plan was for Buffy and Spike to stand guard while the others performed the spell proposed by Carmen.

As Buffy and Spike stood by the door, Carmen and Dawn led Willow towards where they had put the body.

"Willow?" Dawn asked as she looked at the witch, "Are you ready?"

"Yeah," her voice was weak but those around her could feel the strength behind it, "Lets do this."

"Okay," Carmen reached for the drawer and pulled it open to reveal the still body of Tara, "Dawn you need to stand there," she said pointing to the head of the drawer, "And Willow you over there," she pointed to the other side of the drawer.

"So what now?" Dawn asked.

"Willow and I put a hand each on your shoulders and hold each others remaining hand, then you place your index finger on either side of her head, then the fun begins."

"Goodie," Dawn said sarcastically.

With some help the three of them were arranged as Carmen wanted and they started chanting, "Chi mai char mai Car hoo," over and over until the words became nothing more than noise, there was another sound building in the room, the thrum of power. As the sound grew the air became thick with ozone.

Buffy and Spike glanced out the door, and then back at the three by Tara.

"Dawn!" Buffy cried, the four were surrounded by a crackling field of purple energy.

"No, luv they need to do this on their own," Spike grabbed her arm as she moved towards them.

"But..." Buffy began as she looked into his face, it was etched with concern, for whom Buffy didn't know.

As they watched the energy began to move outward, the ball growing larger with each passing second.

"Should we..." Buffy jerked her thumb towards the door, Spike just shrugged.

The energy reached them and there was a brilliant white flash that knocked them off their feet and into the wall.

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"Dawn!" Tara jerked out of her sleep and sat bolt upright, her face turning to me.

"What is it?" I moved to her side and slid my arm around her shoulders.

"Y-you were r-remembering it?" she stammered.

I knew the it she was referring to was her resurrection, "Yeah."

Her eyes held a fear that I had never seen before, "Something's changed."

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To Be Continued In When Angels Weep 4 - Worlds of Grey and Worlds of Blood